Despite the fact that Florida has no recall law pertaining to statewide elected officials, Newsweek magazine published a story highlighting the growth of a Florida statewide petition calling for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recall.
Newsweek placed the detail related to the prohibition of recalling statewide elected officials at the bottom of the article.
The article links the growth in COVID cases and DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic as part of the reason for the popularity of the recall effort.
“A petition to recall and remove Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has doubled its support in 6 days, amassing more than 70,000 signatures, as the sunshine state battles its highest daily COVID-19 cases on record,” the article began.
The petition itself also cites DeSantis’ approach to the pandemic as one of the main criticisms.
“The petition to recall him, which was started by Cameron White, had 70,526 signatures by Saturday morning. It criticizes the Republican governor’s stance towards COVID-19, as well DeSantis making it difficult to file for unemployment benefits,” the article continued.
The creator of the petition, Cameron White, posted an August 14 update citing the circulation of the delta variant and saying Floridians need to make their voices heard.
“The Delta variant is ravaging Florida and our governor is still putting the lives of Floridians in danger and refusing to follow medical guidance,” the petition says. “The responsible citizens of Florida must rise up and do everything in our power to remove our reckless and incompetent governor now.”
Despite the go-ahead to publish the article, Newsweek published another story five days earlier showing why the grassroots effort to recall DeSantis was ill-fated. The title of the article was “Why the Recall Ron DeSantis Petition is Doomed to Fail.”
In the earlier article, Newsweek lists the states currently able to hold recall election and noting Floridians do not have such power.
“Despite the petition proving popular, everyday Floridians do not have the power to recall elected officials. The U.S. states that are able to hold recall elections for elected state officials include Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin, plus the District of Columbia.”
Florida's recall law doesn't pertain to elected state officials, such as the governor, nor elected federal officials, such as members of the state's Congress. https://t.co/KRm3QGthob
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) August 16, 2021
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at The Florida Capital Star and The Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Ron DeSantis” by Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.
